Whether it’s because of contract negotiations or a good ol’ fashioned reboot, sometimes characters get recast, and we love the newer version all the same – looking at you Mark Ruffalo.
Videos by ComicBook.com
But then sometimes, a new actor comes along and, how do we put this nicely… well, we just don’t love them quite as much. With Solo: A Star Wars Story out now, Alden Ehrenreich had his work cut out for him by filling in the enormously charismatic shoes of Harrison Ford, but the word around town is that he’s actually pretty charming in the role of Han Solo (the same can be said of his co-star Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian). That’s a huge relief for Star Wars fans and hopefully he’ll avoid being on lists like this one – the 10 Worst Recast Comic Book Characters!
Who do you think should land in the No. 1 spot as the worst recast character? Drop us a comment and let us know, but not before you watch the video at the top of the article to find out who we picked first!
10. Rhodey
Kicking off at No. 10 is Don Cheadle as Rhodey. Now cool your jets, it’s not that Don Cheadle isn’t a terrific actor, he is, and he does a great job as Rhodey. But we’d be lying if we said that that there wasn’t a big part of us who wishes we could have seen Terrence Howard continue in the role.
9. Lois Lane
No. 9 is Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane from Superman Returns. Once again, Kate Bosworth is great. And she didn’t do a bad job, per say. She was completely serviceable in the role, but she also didn’t exude the fiery determination of Lois Lane in the same way that the late great Margot Kidder did.
8. April O’Neil
At No. 8 is Megan Fox as April O’Neil. When fans think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their favorite investigative television reporter, no one thinks of Megan Fox, no matter how yellow her jacket is. Even when she was initially cast, big red flags started waving for fans of the franchise, and was she absolutely terrible? No. But she wasn’t Judith Hoag (or even Paige Turco) either.
7. Robocop
No. 7. Joel Kinnaman as Robocop. In the original, Peter Weller did a perfect job portraying a robot policeman with a glimmer of humanity left in him. When he was turned into a machine, he played it like a machine. Joel, however, did not. He was essentially the same person before and after his accident, and that struggle with recovering in his humanity seemed lost in the translation.
6. Batman
No. 6. Is Val Kilmer as Batman from Batman Forever. Val Kilmer is usually a top notch actor with super interesting characters – Like Madmartigan in Willow or Doc Holliday in Tombstone. But for whatever reason, his Batman was pretty bland.
And why does no one ever bring up the fact that he had bat-nipples too??
5. Lex Luthor
Coming in at No. 5 is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to turn Lex into a psychotic Mark Zuckerberg type, but it missed the mark. Where Gene Hackman (and to a lesser extent, Kevin Spacey) played the part with a little more subtle glee, it felt like Jesse was trying too hard to be “crazy” and you know exactly what we mean.
4. The Joker
The tattoos didn’t help.
3. The Crow
In the third spot is Edward Furlong as The Crow. There’s a reason why The Crow: Wicked Prayer killed the franchise, no pun intended. First of all, many people feel like it’s a slight to the memory of Brandon Lee to even bother recasting The Crow, but where there’s money to be made.
Still, they went with the kid from Terminator 2: Judgement Day?
2. Catwoman
At No. 2 is Halle Berry as Catwoman. We don’t have to explain/defend this one do we?
1. Batman (again!)
But the worst recast actor ever goes to George Clooney as Batman from Batman and Robin. Again, George is usually fantastic, but he was terrible and completely miscast as the Dark Knight, which is surprising since he’s pretty much a real life Bruce Wayne, perfect jawline and all. The most likely reason that ol’ Bats pops up more than once here is because there are so many variations of what Batman can be. George was going more for the Adam West variation, but still in continuation with what Tim Burton had already started, so as history has shown, it didn’t work.
